This invention relates to the cooling of cabinets and other spaces that house electronic equipment, and more particularly to an improved cooler of compact design for use in cooling cabinets of small configuration.
Electrical and electronic components are mounted in racks and drawers and enclosed in cabinets to protect them from dust and dirt and to shield high voltages from accidental human contact. During operation, these components produced waste heat, and this waste heat will increase the temperature within the cabinets. High temperatures reduce the operating lifetimes of many electronic components and are detrimental to electrical and electronic insulations.
Various means may be employed to remove the heat within the cabinet indirectly. A water- or refrigerant-cooled heat exchanger may be located within the cabinet. Alternatively, a heat pipe heat exchanger may be mounted on the cabinet wall such that the evaporator portion is within the cabinet and the condenser portion is located external to the cabinet enclosure. Regarding water cooled heat exchangers, a source of cooled water is not always available in the vicinity of electrical and electronic cabinets. Moreover, the use of water in conjunction with electrical equipment, is not advisable. In the place of water cooled heat exchangers, the use of refrigerant-cooled heat exchangers may, with the proper choice of refrigerant, be made compatible with electrical equipment. However, a separate heat pump is required to cool the refrigerant.
Fans often are supplied with water or refrigerant cooled units in order to reduce the size of the finned coils within the cabinet. Cabinets coolers of the heat pipe variety require a fan within the cabinet and another fan external to the cabinet in order to reduce the volume of the cooler to manageable proportions. Fans beat the air to force it to move and, consequently, fans are inefficient air movers and they create annoying noise. This noise, which can exceed 50 decibels, cannot be tolerated in some military and commercial applications.
In its basic concept, the compact cabinet cooler of this invention includes a plurality of Perkins tubes or heat pipes mounted for rotation within a perforated housing, with the condenser end portion of the Perkins tubes/heat pipes within the housing projecting outward of the cabinet.
The principal objective of this invention is to provide a quiet, compact electronic cabinet cooler which may be mounted on the top or on the side walls of a cabinet.
Another objective of this invention is to provide a compact cabinet cooler which uses either Perkins tubes or heat pipes as heat transfer tubes.
Still another objective of this invention is to provide a cooler which is usable with cabinets of various sizes and shapes.
A further objective of this invention is to provide a cabinet cooler in which the condensation section is positioned outside the cabinet, so that the heat generated within the cabinet is exhausted to the atmosphere.
A still further objective of this invention is the provision of a compact cabinet cooler of simplified construction for economical manufacture, maintenance and repair.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages of this invention will appear from the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings of preferred embodiments.